Samuel Sewall

Samuel Sewall (28 March 1652-1 January 1730) was a judge, businessman, and printer from the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials.

Biography
Samuel Sewall was born on 28 March 1652 in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England, the son of House of Commons member Henry Sewall and Jane Dummer. In 1661, the Sewall family crossed the Atlantic Ocean and headed to New England after the restoration of Charles II of England, and Sewall had a lifelong love of verse in both English and Latin. From 1667 to 1674, Sewall attended Harvard College before becoming the official printer of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1681. Sewall joined the Board of Overseers at Harvard and became an assistant magistrate, persecuting accused witches in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The next year, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Judiciature and became its Chief Justice in 1717 before dying in 1730 in Boston.